Railroad track appliance



Dec. 22, 1953 2,663,526

S. W. HAYES RAILROAD TRACK APPLIANCE Filed Feb. 8, 1950 1N VEN TOR.

8 35 S TANL EY W. HAYE 5 A TTUHNE'Y Patented Dec. 22, 1953 RAILROAD TRACK APPLIANCE Stanley W. Hayes, Richmond, 1nd,, assignor to Hayes Track Appliance Company, Richmond, Ind., a corporation of Indiana Application February 8, 1950, Serial N0. 143,049

1 Claim.

This invention relates to railroad track appliances, and more particularly to manually operated stands located adjacent the track for controlling switches, derailers and signal targets, and to the method of assembling such devices.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a rugged structure of few and simple parts which may be easily and permanently secured together by simple welding operations with all joints fully protected at their adjacent surfaces against entrance of water.

Stands embodying the features of my invention comprise generally a staff supporting structure comprising a base to be secured to one or more ties supporting the track rails, an upright frame structure comprising the base, a vertical frame, a top member supported in parallelism with the base plate, a rotatable stafi having bearings in the base and top plate, and spaced apart bearing rings secured to the staff and engaging the inner faces of the base plate and the top plate.

The structure is fabricated from parts so formed that in the assembly they may be secured together with a so-called down welding operation; that is, all seams to be welded will be presented in a horizontal plane below the position of the application of the weld rod.

The bearing rings on the staff are provided in their bearing faces with chamfered portions to receive the weld to insure a water tight joint between the adjacent surfaces of the rings and the staff.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a plan view of my operating stand.

Fig. 2 is a View in side elevation of the stand, and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view showing parts in separated positions.

The operating stand shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 is designed for one tie mounting and may be used for operating a derail mechanism or switch points for a side track.

As shown in the drawings, a flat mounting plate 5 is secured to a wooden tie 6 by means of spikes 1. A fiat portion 8 of the plate 5 extends beyond the top face of the tie 6 and is provided with a hole 9 to receive the lower end of a rotatable staff It. A supporting bracket ll, comprising a vertical side plate l2, and a horizontal plate :3 is secured at the lower end of the side plate 12 to the top face of the base plate 5. A triangular shaped brace I5 is secured to the outer face of the vertical side plate 12 and the top face of the base plate 5. A hole it through the horizontal plate l3 receives the upper end of the staff H]. A segmental plate 29 is secured to the body portion of the staff it and is located between the base plate 5 and the horizontal plate It. A handle member 2! pivotally supported at 22 on the segmental plate Zt cooperates with the segmental plate 2% to supply the turning leverage for the staff it. The handle 2! comprises a grip 23, a short arm 24 lying on one side of the segmental plate 26, and a long arm 25 lying upon the opposite side of the segmental plate 26. The inner end of the long arm 25 terminates adjacent the staff l6 and the lower face of the horizontal plate 13 by which its upward movement is limited. The arms 24 and 25 are offset downwardly adjacent the outer end of segmental plate 20 to clear an opening 26 adapted to receive a lock 27. When the lock receiving opening is clear of obstruction, the inner end of the arm 25 may be swung downwardly against a stop 3! on the segmental plate 20 to clear its inner end from the left-hand end of an arcuate stop member 32 secured to the lower face of the horizontal plate It. The arcuate stop member 32 is of such length that the inner end of the arm 25 will just clear the right-hand end of it when the arm is in the position assumed by it when the parts, moved by the rotation of the stafi It, are in their fully operated position. At this point in the operation, the inner end of the arm 25 may be swung upwardly to clear the lock opening 26 for insertion of the lock 27.

A cylindrical lug 35 welded to the lower end of the staff H3 below the extension 8 of the plate 5 is adapted to receive an eye bolt 36 to be connected to track mechanism.

Cylindrical bracing and reinforcing lugs 38 are secured to the edges of the plate 6 and extend downwardly against the face of the tie 6 on the side of the operating mechanism.

A pair of bearing rings ii! and ii are secured to the staff ill in position to bear against the inner faces of the plates 3 and i3, respectively. These rings 46 and ii are secured to the staff ID by welding. The face of each bearing ring it and ll lying adjacent its respective plate is provided with a chamber 55 to be filled with welding metal when the rings are secured to the staff. This construction provides a joint between the staff and the bearing rings which will prevent water entering between the adjacent surfaces of the staff and the rings which would result in corrosion and consequent weakening of the structure.

In the structure described, the parts going into the assembly are so formed with relation to each other that each step in the uniting of the parts is can be performed with a so-called down hand welding operation.

Briefly the steps in the assembly of the switch stand of my invention is as follows: The stafi ll! is first inserted through the bearing rings 46 and 4|, and with the stafl in a vertical position, the rings are welded on the up side to the stafi. The rod is then turned end for end, and the rings welded on their opposite faces to the stafi'. After the above described steps, the staff is placed in a horizontal position and the segmental plate 26 welded to the top surface thereof between the bearing rings. The next step is to insert the lower end of the staff 10 through the opening 9 in the plate 6, followed by passing the upper end of the staff through the opening 16 in the horizontal portion of the member H to which'the;

arcuate stop member 32 has previously been welded and moving member H down until the edge of the vertical member I2 engages the top face of the plate 5 to which it may then be welded. After the above assembly has been made, the lug 35 for the eye bolt 3% is welded to the lower end of the stafi It. The clearance between the lower face of the plate member 8 and the lower end of the staff IS permits the down welding of these parts. The whole structure may be moved into any position to bring the welding seams into a desired horizontal position for down welding operations without obstruction by any other parts of the structure.

While I have shown and described my invention with respect to the preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that modifications may be 4 made from this embodiment without departing from the spirit or scope of my invention.

I claim:

In an operating stand for railway track appliances, a pair of plates spaced one above the other and having aligned bearing holes, an operating shaft extending vertically through the aligned holes, the lower of said plates lying on and extending beyond the side of a single railroad tie, the upper of said plates extending only beyond the side of the tie on which the lower plate rests, said plates being of equal length along the tie, a vertical plate integral with said upper and lower plates lying in a plane parallel with the side of the tie and of equal length along the tie with the upper and lower plates, a pair of spaced vertical lugs secured to the vertical edges of said vertical plate and extending downwardly against the side of and below the top surface of the supporting tie, the bottom plate being provided with a spike hole through which a spike may be driven into the tie to cooperate with the lugs to prevent the operating stand from being rotated on the tie.

STANLEY W. HAYES.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Hayes Feb. 14, 1922 

